Growing Vanilla in Thailand

[Latis]

I saw an old post from 2101 from someone interested in cultivating Vanilla in Thailand. My there questions:

1) Has anyone had any success?

2) Would the vanilla orchids grown in Isaan? Specifically in Ubon where I have a micro farm at the waters edge at Sirindhorn Dam.

3) Are the roots of starter plants available in Thailand and where from?

Thanks for any sensible advice and answers to this post.

David

[kolohe]

I have found vanilla plants for sale at some of the "plant markets" here in Pattaya. What I saw were plants that were already a foot or two tall and wrapped on a center support. They were selling them for 400 each. I don't know if that's a good price or not. The other stuff she had ranged from "seems OK" to "you gotta be f'ing kidding".

Are you going to be doing the drying and such yourself?

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[Mosha]

Don't these need to be hand fertilised? I think in their native Mexico they have a symbiotic relationship with a specific bee species

Edit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla#Pollination

Edited August 3, 2014 by Mosha

[canuckamuck]

I am interested in this as well, I know it is being done here.

[opalred]

i saw someone growing in north qld oz same climate was very interesting they grew on and under tree shade and hand pollinated cheers

[kickstart]

Tv's "Farming ideas that never grew" thread from last year, had had a discussion on vanilla.

[sbf]

Hi Latis, I picked up some plants at the Chatuchak plant market in Bangkok a couple of weeks ago, think they were 150baht per pot which contained two 30cm cuttings. I am going to try to grow them not far from you in Sisaket province, don't see any reason they will not grow in a garden, although perhaps if one wanted to produce Vanilla commercially there may be better places in Thailand. Shade is important and as others have mentioned they will need to be hand pollinated.

[David48]

Tv's "Farming ideas that never grew" thread from last year, had had a discussion on vanilla.

Mate, thanks for that ... I actually forgot where I posted that.

OP ... have a read of a few posts starting with this one ... http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/651637-farming-ideas-that-never-grew/?p=6589187

[David48]

From memory from that post above ... growing the green bean does make some coin.

Processing that green bean into the black bean that would use in a restaurant, requires the economies of scale, possibly achieved through a Farmers Co-Op and a lot of coin based on the infrastructure required to build.

[soidog2]

From my experience and as others have said vanilla is relatively easy to find.

Also from my experience, it is easy to grow. (picture from the garden)

Getting it to flower and produce beans is very difficult and requires lots of patience and specialized knowledge.

If your are willing to dedicate enough time & energy, no reason not to succeed

Edited August 4, 2014 by soidog2

[kolohe]

Soidog,

You growing vanilla too?

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[maoro2013]

I believe, similar to Robusta coffee, it is hand pollinated. I have looked at these as possible plants go grow under rubber canopy but gave up due to work intensity required.

[Patmalone]

Her is a link to the people doing it in the Daintree, north of Cairns QLD. http://www.daintreevanilla.com/ It takes a Looooooong time to produce the end product.

[HerbalEd]

Producing sellable vanilla (so called) "beans" requires much more that simply growing and drying them. Vanilla is the world's only orchid that produces a fruit (misnamed a "bean") and to do that the flowers must be hand pollinated. Also, the harvested bean must be carefully fermented in order to produce the chemical change (hydrolyses of the vanillin glycoside) that produces the characteristic vanilla aroma we all know and love. The trick is to ferment them correctly without them growing mold.

Growing and processing vanilla for yourself can be fun, but doing it commercially and making a profit is very difficult indeed. The big growers have the many years of experience and the economy of scale that the small grower doesn't.

[maderaroja]

Vanilla Siamenses (spelling) is native to Thailand. It is rare in the wild and is huge. It twines about a tall tree and has a central stem larger than you arm when full grown. Mexican Vanilla is a different species.

[opalred]

i have always tried to grow many differnt things in oz and here some fail others grow anyone try ginsing

[HerbalEd]

i have always tried to grow many differnt things in oz and here some fail others grow anyone try ginsing

We grow Ginseng and scores of other medicinal herbs and spices on my herb farm ... the Pharm Farm ... in Oregon, USA.

[canopy]

But is there any market at all for selling vanilla? Locals are perfectly satisfied with cheaper, artificial vanilla (yuck, but we're talking them not me). They don't even bother selling real vanilla at Tesco or anywhere elsewhere I have looked.

[maderaroja]

But is there any market at all for selling vanilla? Locals are perfectly satisfied with cheaper, artificial vanilla (yuck, but we're talking them not me). They don't even bother selling real vanilla at Tesco or anywhere elsewhere I have looked.

And the Thais don't use much flavoring in their cooking. It all tastes pretty bland, except for the chili and curry.

[drgoon]

Hi all, I'm new here and am keen on having a go at vanilla here in Chumphae on a small scale.

I've been doing a bit of research on vanilla production and see a market for a product with a distinctive flavour difference.

As with wine and coffee terroir or the combination of climate and soil makeup significantly affects the final flavour.

Cheers

The goon.

[maderaroja]

Hi all, I'm new here and am keen on having a go at vanilla here in Chumphae on a small scale.

I've been doing a bit of research on vanilla production and see a market for a product with a distinctive flavour difference.

As with wine and coffee terroir or the combination of climate and soil makeup significantly affects the final flavour.

Cheers

The goon.

Should you actually produce some beans, please allow me to buy some to taste test.

[namdocmai]

The shops from the King's project sell vanilla beans, 3 for 147 baht. They are grown on his farms i guess.

[maderaroja]

The shops from the King's project sell vanilla beans, 3 for 147 baht. They are grown on his farms i guess.

Have you any idea where these shops are located?

[namdocmai]

The shops from the King's project sell vanilla beans, 3 for 147 baht. They are grown on his farms i guess.

Have you any idea where these shops are located?

the IT-square mall in Laksi Bangkok. But i didn't see them there because i rarely go to that one.

The one i saw them is at the or-tor-kor (expensive) fruit market in BKK...next to chatuchak market (the other side of the road). They also have great fresh vegy, fixed price, aircon, big parking, subway station and even cheaper then the normal vegy at the or-tor-kor market.

The vegy from the King is also sold in many Tops supermarkets but i don't know for the vanillabeans, i hate Tops.

http://www.travelfish.org/eatandmeet_profile/thailand/northern_thailand/chiang_mai/chiang_mai/1903

Those shops are all over thailand, maybe you can find them with Google.

Edited September 11, 2014 by namdocmai

[David48]

The shops from the King's project sell vanilla beans, 3 for 147 baht. They are grown on his farms i guess.

Where they 'green beans' which need to be processed.

Or 'black' processed beans.

If they were black beans ready to be used in cooking ... sounds great and a fair price.

Believe it or not $5 a bean (retail) is common from what I've read.

[namdocmai]

They were black beans 3 in a glass tube. This week i didn't see them but also didn't ask for them.

They were not big though, i have seen more expensive ones as well in Bali but they were bigger. There is difference in quality.

A neighbour around here has one growing into a palmtree. Don't know if he ever got beans.

There are good video's how to grow them on youtube.

[Merlindxb]

Hi I have been looking into Vanilla too, found this:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=24&ved=0CIkBEBYwFw&url=http%3A%2%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FThitima_Wongsheree%2Fpublication%2F234059799_Vanilla_Cultivation_and_Curing_in_Thailand%2Flinks%2F09e4150eb85e57faf7000000&ei=PfaUVMyjNdD1oATyrIHIAw&usg=AFQjCNGFRVtUj9jUF8njQlU1GSq8Yunk5w&sig2=trc_iJMZWJ9nxviVko4_Pw

Bet you found it too! It looks like fun, The Prof on youtube from Aus, has found a new way to cure,,,

Check web price's, ;-(

[David48]

Hi I have been looking into Vanilla too, found this:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=24&ved=0CIkBEBYwFw&url=http%3A%2%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FThitima_Wongsheree%2Fpublication%2F234059799_Vanilla_Cultivation_and_Curing_in_Thailand%2Flinks%2F09e4150eb85e57faf7000000&ei=PfaUVMyjNdD1oATyrIHIAw&usg=AFQjCNGFRVtUj9jUF8njQlU1GSq8Yunk5w&sig2=trc_iJMZWJ9nxviVko4_Pw

Bet you found it too! It looks like fun, The Prof on youtube from Aus, has found a new way to cure,,,

Check web price's, ;-(

Just a heads up, that link won't take you to the document, just to a redirect page.

The Article to which I assume Merlin refers to is attached.

APS2012_fullpaper_vanilla-edit1.doc